Around the Corner — Flowers for Kate

My friend Kate commented on a quilt illustration I drew in EQ7, shown in my last post with two other designs. The three designs all use the same strategy. The first main border wraps blocks around the center’s corners, leaving the middle of the border unpieced. The effect seems to strengthen and extend the center block.

This is the quilt design she commented on:She said, “I like the second one, with the bear paws. Depending on the colours you used, it could either be spiky and rugged or feathery and delicate.”

Huh… Let’s see what happens when I change the colors…

I changed the colors, but that’s not all. The center block now is 4 blocks, separated by a narrow sashing. In the borders, the tulip blocks touch each other, rather than being separated by the narrow spacer blocks that give the bear’s paw effect. And besides the lighter, brighter colors, the change in blocks gives a more feminine tilt, too.

Otherwise the design is the same. The total size for both is 72″; border widths and lengths are the same; and the basic layout is the same.

Which one do you like better? Do you have other ideas for the same border device?

I also liked the design with the bear paws best of the three yesterday and still prefer it today. It would depend on the purpose and recipient, but for me-I’d make the bear paws, maybe with the churn dash block border.

That’s a good alternative, too. I drew the bear’s paws with the shoofly border, too. I like the “pine trees” between the 9-patches, though, to complete the outdoorsy feel. Thanks for taking a look and commenting.

The second is beautiful. I much prefer it, mostly because of the colors. I keep trying to make myself like blue, but yellow and green are my favorites. On the other hand, I also like the way you altered the center with the sashing. Taken as a whole, the second looks like summer: green grass, yellow sunshine and pink lemonade.

I think I am in the minority, but I like the first one best. The border with the alternating 9-patch blocks and triangles (I see they are pine trees, hadn’t caught that) was what first caught my attention. I think extending the bear-paw center into sashing is a clever move, and attractive.

The bear paw design is heavier, so to speak, but I like its boldness. The only aspect I’m not wild about is the nine patch flying geese border. I like the geese, but the nine patch obscures them. Maybe different colors in the nine patch would make the geese stand out more. Obviously I think they should be more prominent., since I find them a pain to make.

That’s a good point. Perhaps a low-contrast 9-patch would make that work better for you. And yes, the geese would be rather a pain to make. Though I don’t paper piece, that might be the easiest method to do a stack of them with some level of precision.

I thought about my impressions of both design s before I read the comments. I think both the corner paws and corner flowers look kind of perched on the edges, looming over the centers. Might that be because the rest of those borders are unpieced? I do appreciate your continuing work with medallions, helping us (well, me) to understand why the different elements are appealing or not.

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